WEBVTT - Connect before you disconnect

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to take a moment to connect before you

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<v Speaker 1>end a meeting or any other professional conversation. You work

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<v Speaker 1>with people, and these little moments of connection can make

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<v Speaker 1>an entire work day feel more meaningful. We are all busy,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you are listening to this podcast, my guess

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<v Speaker 1>is that you get a lot done in a day.

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<v Speaker 1>You move judiciously from one thing to the next, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is great. But even as you are doing that,

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<v Speaker 1>it is possible to create meaningful moments during any task

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<v Speaker 1>that involves other people. Doing so is often more productive

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<v Speaker 1>in the long haul than being all business. Perhaps you

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<v Speaker 1>already start most meetings with the little chit chat saying

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<v Speaker 1>hello before getting down to business. Today's tip is about

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<v Speaker 1>continuing with that spirit and putting a tiny bit of connection.

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<v Speaker 1>At the end of any meeting or conversation. After you

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<v Speaker 1>have summed up key takeaways and restated any action items,

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<v Speaker 1>you can take a moment to do something to honor

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<v Speaker 1>the relationship that is connect before you disconnect. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>if you are leading a team meeting, celebrate something that

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<v Speaker 1>happened with the team. Maybe it's a whole team win,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe it's something cool that one person did. You

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<v Speaker 1>can take about sixty seconds to let that person bask

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<v Speaker 1>in your praise before everyone goes out to get more coffee.

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<v Speaker 1>Other times, the final connection can be entirely personal. Maybe

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<v Speaker 1>a client's daughter just started kindergarten. After you have worked

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<v Speaker 1>through the planned content of your call and as you

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<v Speaker 1>are wrapping up, you might say, well, I have another

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<v Speaker 1>call in just a few minutes, but before I go,

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<v Speaker 1>tell me how is Sierra doing in school. At the

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<v Speaker 1>end of a weekly team meeting, as everyone is gathering

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<v Speaker 1>their things to leave, you might ask what people are

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<v Speaker 1>looking forward to for the upcoming long weekend. Before you

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<v Speaker 1>get up to leave your boss's office after a one

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<v Speaker 1>on one, you might congratulate her on her favorite team's

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<v Speaker 1>recent win and ask her what she thought of the game.

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<v Speaker 1>Everybody has stuff to do, and I am not recommending

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<v Speaker 1>that meetings expand to include lots of personal conversation. This

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<v Speaker 1>idea to connect before you disconnect only works in scenarios

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<v Speaker 1>where meetings generally do start and end on time and

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<v Speaker 1>don't get sidetracked to discussions of things like office fridge policies,

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<v Speaker 1>you need to have the discipline to get through your

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<v Speaker 1>material in enough time time that you leave space for

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<v Speaker 1>people to get to their next meeting and to have

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<v Speaker 1>a two minute conversation about something. You could even phrase

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<v Speaker 1>it as a lightning round question. We have two minutes

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<v Speaker 1>before I am shipping everyone out of here to their

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<v Speaker 1>next thing. I want to know what everyone's doing this weekend. Go.

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<v Speaker 1>But here's the thing. People want to work with people

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<v Speaker 1>who care about them. When you remember that the client

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<v Speaker 1>just got a new dog or her kid just started

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<v Speaker 1>at a new school, she feels more positively about working

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<v Speaker 1>with you in the future. Same for team members. When

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<v Speaker 1>you care what they are looking forward to, they want

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<v Speaker 1>to work with you again, and that saves you so

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<v Speaker 1>much time and effort. When you are staffing up projects,

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<v Speaker 1>people are asking to work with you instead of trying

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<v Speaker 1>to avoid you. How cool is that? And you'll enjoy

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<v Speaker 1>work more if you have more interesting conversations, which tend

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<v Speaker 1>to come from taking an interest in people's lives. So

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<v Speaker 1>don't be too quick to say goodbye in your work

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<v Speaker 1>calls and meetings. Take just a moment to connect Before

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<v Speaker 1>you disconnect, work may start to feel better and you

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<v Speaker 1>may become more effective at your job too. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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<v Speaker 1>me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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<v Speaker 1>please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.